In cosmetic and food industry compositions, in commercial solvents and detergents as well as in industrially employed solvents, it is often necessary to add antimicrobial agents, such as agents inhibiting the growth of microbes, and microbicidic agents. Antimicrobial agents may themselves be cytotoxic, skin irritative or otherwise harmful to the system when getting into contact with the skin. Moreover, the currently used antimicrobial agents are without exception synthetic, which means that their production is a complicated process.